This was my third time trying this tea. As I had said in my previous review of it, I did not like the tea, I thought it was too weak, almost stale, but I did not buy it, so I could not send it back (believe me, I would have). I attempted the tea two different ways in order to try and fix it’s underwhelming-ness.

The first thing I did, blasphemous as it was, I crushed the leaves, a normal serving amount (1 scoop) in my mortar and pestle into a fine powder. I really hoped this would help to release the oils and hidden flavors within the leaves. I brewed this, 3 minutes, hot water then removed the infuser and ran it through another strainer because the powder was very finely floating.

While this did improve the flavor from previous trials with the tea, it was still in-no-way up to par with what I have come to expect and love from Dragonwell.

The final attempt at this tea, was over-brewing. As I had said in yet another review, I like to let my Dragonwell steep until I finish the cup, getting the most caffeine and flavor out of each and every leaf. I put one scoop of leaves in my mug, added hot water, let it sit for four minutes and began drinking. Over the next ten minutes, while drinking the tea and allowing the leaves to continue to infuse, I did notice an increase in flavor, but still not where I would expect this to be.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me two (and then three) times, shame on me…I do not blame anyone for the shortcomings of this tea, I find that the leaves could be old, this could be an unrevised batch, something could have happened in storage, as I said, not my sample, not my responsibility, but the tea is definitely not where it should be. This is especially disappointing because Adagio usually does a very good job in getting fantastic tea.

Oh well, I tried to fix it, and unfortunately failed to do so. This tea will forever remain at the bottom of my ratings…

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I am a sarcastic perfectionist, a computer nerd, a game geek, an avid reader, a gadget guru, a wine (and tea) enthusiast, and (in my spare time) a chemist.

As I mentioned, I am a chemist, research and development to be exact, so when evaluating tea, it is much like evaluating my products: I will find the flaws and do my very best to fix them because it is what I love to do. Along those lines, nothing is perfect, but can have perfect qualities, I will highlight those also.

I made a preliminary guide to my rating scale:
0-19 – Did not like anything about the tea, feel it cannot be saved without being reformulated.
20-40 – Did not like the tea, it can be saved with extreme amounts of tweaking (i.e., sugar, milk, honey and or blending with another tea)
41-60 – Neutral about the tea, it can be helped or hurt by additives or blends, varied temperatures and steep times
61-70 – Decent tea, needs a little bit of help to get it in the place I like it, but definitely not out of reach
71-80 – Quality tea, liked it, will try again
81-90 – Really enjoyed the tea, high quality, will continue to drink the tea, not looking for something better
91-100 – Loved the tea, will continue to brew and drink and spread the word about the tea to everyone